Isla Fisher has revealed she had a role in her husband Sacha Baron Cohen’s new movie but it didn’t make the final cut.
The Perth-raised actress, who is in Cannes to promote her latest film, the DreamWorks animation Rise of the Guardians, was meant to play a Russian prostitute in Cohen’s comedy The Dictator. However, as often happens to the best of actors, footage of the 36-year-old funny girl ended up on the cutting room floor.
“And (Sacha) still expected me to do press for the movie,’ Fisher jokes.
“No really, it didn’t work for the movie. I have been through a thousand edits and I have no ego when it comes to this stuff.”
Fisher recalls the last time she was in Cannes when her husband strutted on to the beach in a mankini to promote his film Borat.
“I am happier to see him on a camel,” she says, referring to Cohen’s publicity stunt last week when he chose an unusual animal to take for a morning stroll.
It was one of a number of stunts Cohen has pulled while promoting his new movie around the world, including during his visit to Australia earlier this month.
Fisher was with her husband in Australia but was disappointed she wasn’t able to visit her native Perth because of her filming commitments on The Great Gatsby.
“I wanted to go back to my old school (Methodist Ladies College) and take my husband and then right at the last minute Gatsby extended my shooting days and then Sacha had to be back in LA,” says Fisher, who plays Myrtle Wilson in Baz Luhrmann’s film, which is due for release on Boxing Day.
“I am so homesick when I go back to Perth,” she says. “I love everything about Perth. I am such a Perth girl.”
Fisher plays a tooth fairy called Tooth in Rise of the Guardians, which also features the voice talents of Chris Pine, Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin and Jude Law. The film is due for release in December.